


ready to call this love

by citizen101erased



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-22
Updated: 2019-11-22
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:27:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21525961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/citizen101erased/pseuds/citizen101erased
Summary: Tom loves Harry. Tom also loves B'Elanna. Harry and B'Elanna don't know that Tom is sleeping with both of them. So when they do find out, all hell breaks loose and they force him to choose one of them. But how can Tom choose between the two people closest to him in the galaxy? Luckily, Neelix comes up with an alternative solution. But will Harry and B'Elanna agree?
Relationships: Harry Kim/Tom Paris, Harry Kim/Tom Paris/B'Elanna Torres, Tom Paris/B'Elanna Torres
Comments: 3
Kudos: 24





	ready to call this love

**Author's Note:**

> This is a short fic that kept demanding to be written, so I decided to ignore my main nanowrimo story in favour of this one. I'm totally stealing the word count for nanowrimo though, so it's all good. 
> 
> **Disclaimer:** I've only just started season 3 of Voyager, and don't actually know what happens after the Chute episode (don't spoiler me!). I have just seen gifsets of Tom and B'Elanna on Tumblr, and made some assumptions. 
> 
> This fic is unbetad and written while kinda sick (do not recommend) and listening non-stop to Mika (do recommend). Title from Mika - Ready To Call This Love

The first time Harry and Tom slept together was on Deep Space 9. There had been a party at Quark’s, mostly aimed at the human inhabitants although everyone was welcome. Not that Harry and Tom were particularly welcome after that hassle about the “mementos” for Harry’s parents, but a minor detail like that (and, to be fair, a lot of glaring from Quark) has never stopped Tom from flirting at a bar before. 

And boy, did they flirt. Tom had loved Harry from the moment they met. Well, maybe ‘love’ was a strong word. But to Tom, Harry was the opposite of himself: calm where he was brash, polite where he was rude, naive and curious where Tom often felt like he’d seen too much of the world and was really quite done with it all. 

(“And you know what they say,” Tom had said afterwards, in bed, when they were both still catching their breath, their bodies glistening with sweat. “Opposites attract, and all that.” Harry had laughed, and gone into a spiel about the many times in engineering this was decidedly untrue. Tom had to shut him up with a kiss. It was the only way. Definitely. )

After that, and after Voyager got slung to the other side of the Delta Quadrant and they realized it would take 75 years to get back home, 75 years of being stuck on the same ship with the same people, things changed for a little while. 

Tom tried to be a better Starfleet officer, and that included focusing on 1) piloting and 2) not pissing Chakotay off (except for that time where he got to piss him off under Janeway’s orders - he still thinks of that time often, and fondly.) 

Besides, Harry also had plenty on his mind. Tom doesn’t think he ever actually cared that much for Libby, what with the sleeping with Tom in the meantime, but apparently the sudden, unexpected distance had done something to Harry. 

To be fair, it had done something to them all. And just because Tom didn’t exactly have anyone waiting for him back home (inasmuch as he had a home anywhere to begin with), doesn’t mean he didn’t understand what it was like. 

But Harry? As if being the ‘baby’ of the crew wasn’t enough, as if it wasn’t enough to be slung across the galaxy on his first ever assignment out of the Academy, he had been pushed to the brink time and time again. From getting stuck inside an actual, literal nightmare, to having to carry a baby across a barrier into a slightly different, wrecked Voyager where the original him died. It’s enough to drive anyone insane. 

And then the Akritirian prison happened. 

Tom’s first thought was that he was going to die here. It was really quite likely, what with the stab wound in his stomach and the clamp on his head. 

His second thought was that Harry would go insane here. 

After they both got out, rescued by the captain and cured by the Doctor, and after that moment where Harry had felt so guilty about almost killing Tom, they sat down and splurged on food. 

They had everything they’d talked about it in the prison. Just the two of them, in Tom’s quarters, his table almost buckling under the weight of the food. And Harry was starting to be like himself again, laughing at Tom’s jokes and looking at him with those sparkling eyes.

Tom had stopped for a moment, just to look at Harry. He wasn’t sure if it had been some leftover from the ordeal they just went through, or if just brought back feelings he’d worked hard to put away over the last two years, but every time he looked at Harry he felt his heart do a little flip. 

So he did the natural thing: interrupting Harry’s worried question of “what’s wrong?” by standing up, walking around the table, and grabbing Harry’s face to kiss him. 

And Harry, bless him, had kissed him back like his life depended on it. Maybe it had. Who’s Tom to say it didn’t. 

They’d carried on like this for a while - never talking about it, never making a big deal out of anything. Just them, appreciating the fact that after everything that’s happened, they were still alive and still on this ship. 

Then B’Elanna had come along. 

Of course, she’d been on the ship the whole time. And technically, Tom had known her longer, having been a maquis for a couple of weeks. Tom liked to think they’d always got along well, though B’Elanna definitely had opinions of her own about that (like she did about everything. It’s one of the many, many things he likes about her.) 

Where Tom and Harry are polar opposites, B’Elanna feels like she’s like him but more extreme. It feels like she makes him whole, in a way. Where Harry is a calming breeze on a sunny day, B’Elanna is a thunderstorm - dangerous, beautiful, loud, and most people want to stay away while she’s storming, but after she’s done everything’s better and the skies are clear. 

And when he and B’Elanna are together, well. People better stay out of their way, is all he’ll say about that. 

Which is not to say Harry’s soft breeze can’t turn into a tornado under the right (or wrong) circumstances. 

“Tom, where are you going with this,” Neelix interrupts Tom, putting down the spatula he was using to stir through whatever leola root atrocity he was cooking up today. 

“The point is,” Tom continues. “That I’ve been sleeping with both of them, and they found out and confronted me, and I don’t think I’ve been shouted at this much since I was a teenager.” He shivers, recalling the memories of his father and that constant feeling of failure. 

“So now what?” Neelix asks, coming around the corner of the little kitchen area to pour some more coffee into Tom’s mug. Not that he needs anymore, but he’s also not about to say no to Neelix, considering he might be the only friend he has left on the ship now. 

“So now they want me to choose one of them, and I don’t know what to do,” Tom says, burying his head in his hands. 

“There, there.” He feels Neelix’s hand patting his shoulder. “I’m sure you’ll figure something out! You always do!” Neelix sounds as cheery as ever. 

“I think I might actually be stuck this time, Neelix. How am I supposed to choose between the two of them? I love them both, for different reasons and in different ways, but I do...love them both.” 

“Well,” Neelix says, sitting down as he frets with his chef’s hat in his hands. “I mean, do you _have_ to choose?” 

Tom slowly looks up, staring at Neelix. 

“After all, they both like each other, don’t they? They seem to be perfectly good friends. I’m sure you could figure out a way to be together with the three of you, instead of having to choose. As they say on Kiratos six, there’s plenty of love to go around! Of course, they meant it a bit differently, and I’m definitely not suggesting you should start having sex with everybody, but the point still stands.” 

“Yes, and on earth they say ‘three’s a crowd’.” 

“Three isn’t a crowd, it’s just a trio. A triumvirate, you could say. Besides, you’d have another person looking after you, another parent to take care of babies. Plenty of species have multiple partners, you know. It’s not that weird.” 

This is strangely reassuring, especially considering it’s coming from Neelix. 

“Maybe try talking to both of them, at the same time?” 

Tom does. They look at him, then look at each other before kicking him out of his own quarters.

“It didn’t work, Neelix,” he says over his next cup of coffee (spiked with some ale - okay, a lot of ale) as he’s back in Neelix’s canteen. 

“Oh, Tom, I’m sorry. After all, it was my suggestion, so this is all my fault.” Neelix sits down across from Tom, looking more forlorn than Tom feels, which is honestly quite an achievement. 

“Oh, I know!” Neelix continues. “I have an idea! What if I cook dinner for all three of you, together?” 

“Neelix, thank you, but that really doesn’t sound like a-” 

“No no, let me finish,” Neelix continues. “A good romantic dinner, that’ll sort things out. We’ll start with some Seltin Pâté, then move on to -” 

_“Lieutenant Paris, please report to my ready room,”_ the captain’s voice sounds over Tom’s combadge. He makes a mental note to thank her for her great timing. 

“Acknowledged, on my way,” he says, pressing the badge as he stands up. “Neelix, it’s been lovely. I don’t think a candlelit dinner is a good idea-” 

“I didn’t say anything about candles.” 

“-but I really have to go now.” 

He hears Neelix shout something along the lines _ok but come back afterwards, I need you try out a dessert!_ before the doors close behind him. 

When he reaches the captain’s ready room, he finds not only Captain Janeway, but also a (glaring) Chakotay and a (trying-not-to-glare) Tuvok already waiting for him. 

“You wanted to see me, captain?” he asks as innocently as possible. He doesn’t know what he did wrong, and there’s bound to be something (there always is), but until they tell him why he’s here he’s going to pretend to be innocent. 

“Yes. Please, sit down, lieutenant,” Janeway says, gesturing to the chair in front of her table. 

“Alrighty,” Tom says as he sits down. This is not a good sign. She almost never asks people to sit down.

“I have been hearing rumours about your...love life.” 

Oh no. 

“Now, don’t worry. Far be it from me to meddle in your personal affairs. However, recent developments, as I have heard them, have me concerned for the crew’s social coherence and the sense of stability and trust we have built up. Is it true, that you have been in a relationship with not one, but two crew members, without them knowing about each other?” 

Shit. 

“Yes, sir. I..did not mean for this to happen?” 

“Sure, because sleeping with multiple people always happens by accident,” Chakotay scoffs from the side. 

“Captain, does it help if I say I’m already working on trying to get it fixed?” 

“I sure hope you do, yes,” she nods, folding her hands in front of her. “Especially since Commander Tuvok has come to me because of multiple complaints after shouting matches between the three of you. Apparently, some crew members have asked to be moved to a different deck if this continues.”

“Oh dear.” 

“Yes, indeed.” 

Tom wipes his sweaty palms on his uniform. “I guess...I’ll go talk to them. Again.” 

“Please do. Don’t make me interfere in your romances again.” 

“I won’t, captain.” 

“Good. Dismissed.” 

Troubled and unsure of how to continue, Tom decides to go back to his own quarters, in the hopes that the others have left and he can be alone for a bit. But not until after a quick detour to the pub on the holodeck, to get some an alcoholic boost to his courage. He’s going to need it. There have been life and death situations as a pilot that were less terrifying than trying to face an angry Harry _and_ an angry B’Elanna, at the same time. 

The alcohol helps. The holographic women trying to flirt with him do not. He shrugs the arm of one of them off, and she clicks her tongue, annoyed, before strutting off on her high heels. 

He wonders for a moment how B’Elanna would look in heels, then shudders at the thought of how much damage she could do to other people’s faces in them. Then he wonders how Harry would look in heels, just because he can. The thought cheers him up a little. 

Well. Time to go walk into the lion’s den, he supposes. 

So he walks back to his quarters, where all is quiet on the other side of the doors. He takes a deep breath, and then another, before opening the doors. 

He steps inside his quarters, to find Harry and B’Elanna waiting for him. They’re both sitting on his couch, beaming up at him, and holding hands. 

“Finally. It was about time you came back here,” B’Elanna says with only a hint of her usual anger in her voice. 

“We’ve been waiting,” Harry adds. 

“Am I dreaming?” Tom asks, already pinching himself through the thick fabric layers of his uniform. 

“No,” B’Elanna laughs. Tom really needs to record that laugh at some point so he can carry it with him wherever he goes. “Come, sit.” She let’s go of Harry’s hand and scoots over a little to make space for Tom between them. He sits down carefully, looking back and forth between both of them. 

“I just want you both to know I’m so sorry, and I should’ve talked to you sooner,” Tom starts. 

“It’s alright, actually,” Harry says. 

“You do know that Harry and I have known each other since we were like seventeen, right? We were at the Academy together, after all. And we’ve been friends since we all got here in the Delta Quadrant,” B’Elanna says. 

“Hang on, really? You’ve known each other for that long? How come I didn’t know that?” 

“Because you never talked to both of us, always scurrying back and forth between us like an idiot.” Her voice is kind, but Tom knows her well enough to know she absolutely meant this as an insult. 

“Why didn’t _you_ say something earlier?” 

Harry shrugs. “We wanted to make you suffer for a bit.” 

“Gee, thanks,” Tom rolls his eyes. 

“You kind of deserved it though, thinking you could have us both without telling us about it. It was a cruel thing to do, and we thought this would be a good way of punishing you.” 

Tom looks at Harry with a newfound appreciation. “I didn’t know you were even capable of this. I’m proud of you, Harry.” 

“It was B’Elanna’s idea, actually.” 

“Don’t ruin the moment.” 

That brings out a giggle, and Tom can’t help it, he just feels such an urge to lean and kiss Harry. He’s never been one to deny his urges, so that’s exactly what he does. It’s broken by a tap on his shoulder from behind, so he breaks away and turns around to kiss B’Elanna too. 

“So we’re all good?” 

“Hmm. I’d say you still have some making up to do,” B’Elanna says. 

“You want to move to the bedroom, then?” Tom says, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. 

“Not to us. To Neelix. He’s been so worried.” 

“I really should thank him for all his support, you’re right. Oh! He wanted to make a dinner for all three of us. I’m sure that’d make him happy.” 

The dinner does happen, and ends up as a dinner for four as Neelix can’t help but sit down and ask questions. Tom doesn’t mind. Turns out one of his favourite things to do is talk about Harry and B’Elanna. Both of them, together. 

Part of the crew does end up moving to a different deck once the three of them settle into a new (still loud) routine. Someone suggests they soundproof their quarters (Tom suspects this was either Tuvok or Chakotay), which Janeway immediately turns into an order. 

It’s a good life, Tom thinks, as he lies in bed, running one hand through Harry’s hair and another over B’Elanna’s back. He never expected this to happen, that he would find a home in these two people. But he did, and he doesn’t want to ever look back.

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi to me at [Tumblr](https://throwing-roses-into-the-abyss.tumblr.com)! 
> 
> Let me know if you liked this story!


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